Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Drug Use, and Violence: Increased Reporting with Computer Survey Technology

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 280; no. 5365; pp. 867 - 873
• Main Authors: Turner, C. F., Ku, L., Rogers, S. M., Lindberg, L. D., Pleck, J. H., Sonenstein, F. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 08-05-1998; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Adolescents; Age; Biological and medical sciences; Computers; Data Collection - methods; Drug and alcohol surveys; Drug Use; Drugs; Ethnic Groups; Grade levels; Human sexual behavior; Human viral diseases; Humans; Illicit drugs; Infectious diseases; Information management; Injections; Interviews; Interviews as Topic - methods; Male; Males; Mating behavior; Medical sciences; Multilingualism; National Surveys; Null hypothesis; Polls & surveys; Privacy; Questionnaires; Reading Ability; Research Article; Risk-Taking; Sexual Behavior; Sexual violence; Social science research; Socioeconomic Factors; State Surveys; Substance-Related Disorders; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; United States; Violence; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Young Adults; Youth; United States; Human; Consumption; Immunopathology; Drug addiction; Questionnaire; Violence; Sexual behavior; Male; AIDS; Risk taking; Immune deficiency; Infection; Alcoholic beverage; Viral disease; Adolescent; Computer aid
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5365.867

Surveys of risk behaviors have been hobbled by their reliance on respondents to report accurately about engaging in behaviors that are highly sensitive and may be illegal. An audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI) technology for measuring those behaviors was tested with 1690 respondents in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males. The respondents were randomly assigned to answer questions using either audio-CASI or a more traditional self-administered questionnaire. Estimates of the prevalence of male-male sex, injection drug use, and sexual contact with intravenous drug users were higher by factors of 3 or more when audio-CASI was used. Increased reporting was also found for several other risk behaviors.